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Aurora native Albrecht helps Nebraska to national volleyball title

Aurora native Annika Albrecht has had one heck of a senior volleyball season.

Albrecht, who was home-schooled during her high-school years and played club volleyball at Aurora-based Sports Performance, helped the University of Nebraska win the 2017 NCAA title in Kansas City, Missouri.

Albrecht earned all-Big Ten Conference honors and was named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association all-American second team. The senior finished her run in Lincoln ranked No. 6 all-time in career aces and served as a co-captain this past season. She was a six-rotation outside hitter for the first time in 2017.

Albrecht is a now a finalist for the prestigious American Amateur Athletic Union Sullivan Award, which is presented to the nation's most outstanding amateur athlete.

Winners are selected through a national online vote, which recently concluded. Previous winners of the award include the likes of sports standouts Peyton Manning, Missy Franklin, Bobby Jones and Michael Phelps.

Albrecht will join fellow Sullivan finalists, including Nebraska teammate Kelly Hunter, in New York City on April 17 when the winner will be announced during a ceremony at the New York Athletic Club.

McLean at Winona: Crystal Lake South graduate Sam McLean is in her senior season on the Winona State softball team. McLean is a former honorary captain of the Daily Herald's Fox Valley All-Area softball team.

Through midweek, McLean started all 23 games she had played in and is hitting .328 with 19 hits in 58 at-bats. She has scored 9 runs and has 7 RBI.

In a game against Mercyhurst earlier this season, McLean went 3-for-3 with 2 runs scored and an RBI. She has 6 multihit games to her credit this spring.

McLean also has been flawless in the field where she has made no errors in 81 total chances.

Former co-captains square off: In the first round of the NCAA Division III women's basketball tournament this season, 2015 Daily Herald girls basketball honorary co-captains Hannah Frazier and Katie Claussner faced each other. Frazier plays for Wheaton College, while Claussner is at Washington University in St. Louis.

Claussner and Washington University were 75-57 winners in the first-round game. Frazier, a Batavia graduate, finished with 10 points and 2 rebounds. Claussner, a St. Charles East product, played 5 minutes in the game.

On the season, Frazier averaged a team-best 14.8 points while shooting .502 from the field and .850 from the foul line. She also averaged 5.5 rebounds and had 52 assists, 46 blocks and 32 steals on a 22-win team.

Claussner played in 25 games for Washington University and averaged 4.2 points per game, while shooting .574 from the field and .765 from the free-throw line.

Frazier was named to the D3Hoops.com all-Central region second team for her efforts this season.

Shields at Parkside: Huntley product Jessica Shields is having another strong season on the softball diamond for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Through midweek, Shields is hitting a team-best .336 in 32 games. She has 36 hits in 107 at-bats and has scored 26 runs to go with 6 RBI. Of her 36 hits, two have gone for triples.

Shields also leads the team with 14 walks and has a team-best .423 on-base percentage. She's also tops on the squad in stolen bases with 27 in 30 attempts. In the field, she's made only 3 errors in 67 total chances.

Shields has five 3-hits games already this season and 9 multihit games.

Kuehl at Whitewater: Geneva graduate Brian Kuehl is one of 12 members of the Wisconsin-Whitewater men's and women's track and field program to earn all-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors by placing among the Top 3 in at least one event at the recent conference indoor championship meet.

Kuehl, a freshman, won the 800 with a time of 1:55.20 and remained one of the nation's Top 15 performers in the event.

Wahlen at St. Ambrose: Former Batavia student-athlete Morgan Wahlen is on the women's soccer team at Division II St. Ambrose University.

This past season, Wahlen, a freshman midfielder, was named to the all-Chicago Collegiate Athletic Conference women's soccer second team. Wahlen was second on the team in goals scored with seven. Three of her goals were game-winners.

A two-time conference offensive player of the week, Wahlen scored 2 goals and had her only 2 assists of the season in St. Ambrose's win against Judson University.

Off at College wants your help: Send information and/or statistics on Fox Valley-area athletes playing collegiately to Mike Miazga at mjm890@gmail.com.

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